


Gift of a Father

by Frasers_soulmate



Category: due South
Genre: Christmas, Forgiveness, Ghosts, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Other, Regret
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:28:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27165232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Frasers_soulmate/pseuds/Frasers_soulmate
Summary: Bob has some regrets and is trying to fix it in his own strange ways.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 7





	Gift of a Father

**Author's Note:**

> In the Due South group on Facebook there was a post about "Gift of the Wheelman" and the look on Bob Fraser's face gave me the idea to write this short story.  
> It's again one of my so called "Five Minutes Tales" but even if I wrote it in a heartbeat I hope you'll enjoy it a bit.  
> Thank you kindly.

Christmas.

It was the first time that he experienced Christmas dead. Was he really dead?

That didn't feel sure.

Last year he had spent this feast with his only son.

Back then he wanted to finally tell him how proud he was of him, but somehow he hadn't been able to bring himself to do it.

All his life he had had trouble showing his emotions.

And the boy didn't seem to be doing it any better.

If he could finally tell the child that he loved him and how proud he was to be his father ...

But the repentance came too late. Now he was dead and his son an orphan.

Well, Benton was an adult and could very well lead his own life, unfortunately he had to learn that much too early, but still Bob Fraser had the feeling, at least if you could still feel as a dead man, that he owed his son something.

What would he give to celebrate Christmas with Ben again?

A real Christmas with a tree, presents and a turkey.

Not with searchlights and an arctic tern.

But it was too late now. He had lost the chance.

Even during his lifetime he was rarely home at Christmas and his parents, who Ben grew up with, reproached him every time because the boy had waited for him for hours every evening.

Vain.

But it had not been easy for Bob to take care of the boy. He could hardly take care of himself.

And then there were Ben's eyes.

Big and blue and deep like the ocean.

Caroline's eyes.

It always caused Bob unspeakable emotional pain to look into those eyes.

Yes, he was a coward. And because he was, Benton had to suffer from it, he knew that.

But as long as he still had an unfinished business here, he couldn't go home.

And that's why he was stuck here.

Forgiveness.

It was about forgiveness, he knew that. But should he forgive Ben? But what for? The boy wasn't to blame.

Maybe Ben could forgive him.

For all that he had NOT done for his son.

For all the time he had NOT spent with him.

It gave him almost physical pain to think about what he'd missed.

Could he still feel any physical pain at all?

Could he feel anything at all?

He hadn't been able to do that during his lifetime and now he should be able to do it as a dead man?

Ridiculous!

His parents had always written to him in letters of Ben's learning and development progress, but he had never been THERE.

Not when the boy was on his first day of school, not when he was accepted into the RCMP academy, and not when he graduated.

That must have disappointed the boy the most.

He never wanted anything other than to make his father proud.

Oh, he was proud!

Very!

His boy had grown into a wonderful young man and an excellent mountie.

Benton was better than he had ever been.

Bob loved him more than anything else in the world. The boy was so much like his mother.

Oh, if he only had one more chance to talk to his son.

To tell him that he loved him and that he was proud of him.

He knew the boy had waited a lifetime for it.

And now it was Christmas again and Bob was no longer alive.

Although he felt a lot more alive than he had ever felt.

Maybe he had to die first to be able to live?

In life he had been frozen.

Since the day he lost his beloved Caroline 28 years ago.  
And Ben his mother.

Well, after he was no longer alive himself, or at least that had been made believable, he was thawed.

He laughed cheerlessly.

Usually you let yourself be frozen in death so that you could go on living later.

Never mind! Such thoughts confused him.

He just wanted another chance to talk to Benton.

It was Christmas, for God's sake!

If he was given this opportunity, he would find a way out of the borderlands and finally find his Caroline, be reunited with her.

But to be able to do that, he first had to take care of Ben and catch up on everything that was not possible for him during his lifetime.

He was a coward, nothing could be done about that now.

He just hoped Ben could forgive him.

If only he had this one chance ...

************************************************

What the….

A light flash and a swirl.

Bob lost himself in the vortex and before he could think about whether he would feel sick at all after his death, he found himself in the back seat of a '72 Buick Riviera.

What was that?

Where, to hell ... no, it was definitely not a good idea to put this word in your mouth or in your head.

It was dark. This was definitely not the borderlands he'd wandered around since his death.

This was ...

He didn't know at first.

Why was he in a car?

Why was it dark and what kind of city was that?

And the most important:

Why was he here?

And why was a wolf sitting next to him and looking at him strangely?

So someone should understand the death!

Then he noticed a young man in the passenger seat who suddenly turned as the wolf began to growl.

It was Ben! His son!

Should he have gotten the chance he asked for?

Could he finally tell him what he wanted to say to him now?

When he looked into his boy's blue eyes, which stared at him in disbelief, he lost heart again.

He would probably have to stay longer in the borderlands.

"Hello, son!" He said.

"Hello Dad, how are you?" replied Ben and Bob looked at him in amazement.

The boy could actually see him!

He was here.

Or was it just his ghost?

His consciousness?

Did it still matter?

But Benton could SEE him!

That alone was the best Christmas present he had ever received.

Now maybe he could fix some things that he had done wrong in life.

TYK


End file.
